NY Bans All-Pro From Fundraising

All-Pro Telemarketing Associates Corp. is banned permanently from soliciting donations in New York as part of a settlement with the state attorney general, who accused the professional fundraiser of making fraudulent claims.

The settlement concludes a lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office in October 2002. It concerned solicitations by All-Pro, Fairfield, NJ, on behalf of the Fraternal Order of State Troopers.

All-Pro failed to disclose that the organization is a 240-member union and not a charity, the attorney general said. The telemarketing company asked for donations to support nonexistent emergency funds for member widows and families and for drug and alcohol awareness shows for elementary school children, according to the attorney general.

Funds collected actually were used for union purposes, the attorney general said. In seven years, All-Pro held only 36 drug awareness shows, spending $18,742 of the $6.6 million collected for that purpose, according to the attorney general.

The attorney general's office previously reached an agreement for the union to pay $212,600 to a charity to settle its role in the case.

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